Today on the Heidi Swapp blog, I'm sharing a couple of projects I've made with Heidi's new Color Shine. Have you heard of it? Well, it's amazing. It's a spray mist that you can use to color just about anything...here, take a look...

With a lot of my projects, I start with one idea in mind and end up with something entirely different.

My Color Shine project was no different.

I started a number of different things and, as time went by, I scrapped them all. I did know that I wanted to make sure I included a number of different things...I wanted to show you how versatile Color Shine is...you do not have to be a paper crafter/scrapbooker/card-maker to love it. I also wanted to show you how amazing the color is. And I wanted to show you how easy it is to use. So I combined my love for Instagram, my love for fabric, my love for photography and my love for Color Shine and this is what I came up with.

I started with some grey duck cloth (like a heavy canvas) and cut 3 pieces to fit a frame I got on clearance from Target. Then I cut some adhesive vinyl Vintage Instaframes from Heidi's Digital Files, adhered the negative cuts to the fabric and sprayed my Black Velvet Color Shine (my ABSOLUTE favorite) over the open spaces. Just like that. One layer of spray was all that was needed.

Then I simply added some of my Instagram photos to the middle of the "frames" with washi tape (another favorite of mine). The photos are easily interchangeable for the season (or my mood) and I can even add journaling or other photos under the frames if I choose to.

For a project like this, I would normally use acrylic paint. But, if you've ever worked with acrylics and fabric, you know that the paint hardens and makes the fabric less flexible. Not to mention, it's hard to get even coverage.

The Color Shine is completely different. The mist becomes part of the fabric instead of just sitting on top of it, so the fabric stays flexible and not "crusty" looking. And the Color Shine has this gorgeous iridescence that really adds to the depth of the color. You have to see it to believe it.

I'm so excited to try my other Color Shine colors on more fabric projects...I'm thinking monogrammed library bags for each of my kids...OH! And wouldn't some personalized canvas wrapping paper look fantastic around Christmas or birthday presents? Maybe even Color Shine'd pillow shams or curtains!

**One tip...because of the consistency of Color Shine, I don't recommend using it on loosely woven fabric like light or sheer cotton. I think it would end up spreading through the fiber threads too quickly, and your designs wouldn't stay crisp. However, if that's the look you're going for, something more fluid and shapeless, it would be beautiful.**

Now, as I was working on this project, I was inspired by my fellow Media Team member, Jamie Pate, to create some paper flowers. So I grabbed my Black Velvet and my Mint Green and got to work on some flowers...I think I'm going to add these to our Christmas tree this year.

I misted a 6"x12" piece of Color Magic paper with the Mint Green, cut it into 1/2" strips, folded the strips back on themselves, and glued them to a round piece of chipboard. Then I simply cut a piece of Vintage Chic Beautiful Songs paper, adhered it to another chipboard circle and glued it to the middle of the flower. Easy peasy.

Here's one I did with the Black Velvet mist...

Oh my gosh, I love how this turned out...that Black Velvet is just phenomenal.

Here's another fun thing about Color Shine. You can use it in a bunch of different ways and get a bunch of different results. The traditional, and obviously, the intended way to use it is to spray it on your projects. This gives you fantastic color, and quick results. BUT, you can also sponge it on for a deeper, more saturated color. Let me show you an example...

The top two photos are of a piece of Color Magic paper that I simply misted with my Black Velvet. Gorgeous black, right? Now the bottom two photos are of paper that I sponged the Black Velvet on to. Is that amazing? Yes. Yes, it is. The color is so completely saturated and bold.

All I do is take a regular old kitchen sponge, get it a bit damp (damp enough so that it is flexible), add a little bit of Color Shine by dabbing the bottle on the sponge and rub it over my paper. The Shine goes a looong way and the color can be applied in layers without making your paper too wet. I usually wait until the Color Shine is dry on my paper and then I simply rub the extra off the resist parts of the paper, or spray a paper towel with some Windex and lightly rub those areas. This way of applying your Color Shine does take a little extra time, but there is a little less mess and a little waste this way.

Try using your Shine both ways on different projects...you will love the variety of looks you can get!

Check out Heidi's blog all this week and next for different ways to use Color Shine!